


Sword

by Queen_Kit



Series: Twinnish: Maul Edition [11]
Category: Star Wars - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe, GFY, Gen, Original Character(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-31
Updated: 2016-07-31
Packaged: 2018-07-28 13:10:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,311
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7641637
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Queen_Kit/pseuds/Queen_Kit
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Talent isn't everything.  Anything is a skill and you can learn it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Sword

The night had been a difficult one and so Maul opened his eyes with some dismay when his chrono started beeping at him.  He had gotten far too little sleep for it to be time to wake up already.

The girl had had some kind of screaming nightmare.  It wasn’t terribly surprising given what she had been through in the last day or so.  Given the way she danced around really talking about a lot of her life the afternoon previous he should have expected it.  There were a lot of things that she had probably dragged up, even _without_ talking about them, that she would rather forget.

The bigger problem than the screaming had been the power she had thrown off.  If he hadn’t been able to wake her – and oh he was going to have bruises from _that_ – she could have torn the ship apart.  He hadn’t been willing to leave her alone after that.  Thankfully she had consented to joining him in the large cabin where he got what sleep he could on the floor after settling her on the bunk.

He was going to have to get her to open up to him eventually, but that was a problem for another day.  He needed to teach her to defend herself first and then maybe he could build the kind of trust needed for that.

He sighed and looked over at the bed, expecting her to still be passed out after everything, and she was gone.

He probably used every curse word he knew in that moment when he thought she had run.  Worse than that, that he had _slept through it_.  He had been on the damn floor blocking her way to the kriffing door and she managed to get out without even disturbing him.  He was just putting together a plan to find her when he reached the boarding ramp and saw her.

She had her eyes closed and some kind of sword in her hands as worked her way through some basic sword-forms.   He frowned, but remained quiet as he observed her.  She had told him that she hadn’t received any more than the most rudimentary training required in fighting and weaponry.  The smooth practiced motions gave lie to that statement, but it had felt like a truth when she spoke it.

If she thought that this was only knowing the bare minimum he had news for her and a knife for whoever had lied to her saying it was.  It was, to his eyes, an act of blatant sabotage.  Someone in the hunters had wanted to ensure that she wouldn’t have the confidence in her ability to fight back.  And it had worked.

“Turn … _into_ not away…”  She was murmuring under her breath as she moved through the more complex forms.  “Closer, closer…” She slipped and nearly dropped her weapon.

It was obvious that she didn’t know he was there as a string of unfamiliar curses fell from her lips and she tossed the sword away.  It was a good minute more before she returned to basic and he just stood there listening.

“-Sith Spawned Idiot!”  She took a deep breath and swallowed.  “Never going to be good enough.  Half-assed, _lazy_ -“

She swallows down her self-recriminations, her fists clenching and unclenching.  Then there is a change on the wind, a frown growing on her face as her anger finds its way to someone else.

 “And how am I supposed to learn what you won’t _show_ me!”  She rushed forward, grabbing the blade and swinging it violently as the force lashed out around her. There was a crack as the top of one of the trees came falling down.

That was when Maul decided he needed to step forward.  It was all well and good to be angry, but it was dangerous to let it get too far out of control.

 “Jinn-Kai.” He placed a single hand on her shoulder.  She jumped and the string of curses she had fallen back into cut off abruptly.

Maul could feel as her anger cut off, smothered by panic at the realization that she was not alone.  He could be nearly certain that she was expecting some kind of punishment.  She had failed in what she was doing and she had failed to keep control.

It took nearly everything in him not to snarl at the people who made her this way.  The people who had undercut the confidence they would have her perform and smothered her.  He wanted to disembowel them in the worst way, but any display of his rage would not be taken the right way in this moment.

He took a deep breath as he removed his hand from her shoulder, taking a deliberate step out of her space.

“It goes like this.”  He made certain to keep his voice level as he moved to where she could see him and began to make his own way through the motions with his saber.   She was not badly off, and if she really hadn’t been shown the form… She was doing exceptionally well in that case.

He repeated the motions several more times, feeling her watching him the entire time.  By the time she began to mirror his moves she was calm enough that he felt he could offer corrections without causing a panic.  He still kept his voice calm as he offered his corrections and soon she was flowing through the motions with almost no trouble at all.

“You did very well.” He offered the compliment honestly.

“Not really.”  She didn’t meet his eyes as she replied.

Maul frowned, taking a step forward only to have her take a step back.  Oh he’s going to _enjoy_ killing the next Hunter he encounters.  “You did.  You work quite well with a sword.”

She shook her head.  “I don’t have the talent to be a fighter.  Doing things like this is a waste of time.”

Maul sighed.  “It is not a waste of time.  It takes time and practice to get bett-”

“No.” She shook her head, with a wan smile.  “I don’t have the talent to be a fighter.  I should focus on my other skills.”

“Whoever told you that was lying to you.” Maul couldn’t help the exasperation from seeping into his tone.  “Sword-work and fighting isn’t any more a talent than the rest of what you’ve told me you can do.  It is a Skill.  With hard work you can learn it and you are already well on your way.”

She shook her head.  “The Elders and the Masters spend a very long time observing lessons to make sure that we go where we are best suited.  They wouldn’t do that.”

“Wouldn’t they?” Maul replied, raising a brow.

“I-”  She paused, her brow furrowing as she really thought over it.  She had accepted their judgment of her without question and that needed to change and it needed to change now.

“I guess?” The near victory he felt at that word was quashed as she continued, “But they weren’t wrong about this.  I wasn’t able to beat my opponent when they tested me.  I wasn’t good enough.”

He couldn’t help himself, he rolled his eyes.  “Had you ever fought against someone before?”

“Not with swords, but-”

He was almost certain the only weapon she had actually faced an opponent with was a knife.  The near miss he had gotten last night had shown she could wield that well and he was certain she could do this too.

“Then the only reason you lacked the ability was that you didn’t have the practice.  We can correct that.  Your form was excellent but there is a difference in having an opponent. You’ll start learning now.”

She looked a bit frightened, but if he’s ever going to get her past the lies they have to start now.


End file.
